Exploring The Impact Of A Ruling On Autism Treatment

A few years ago, Paul Terdal told us his personal story about life with two autistic sons. At that time he was trying to get his insurer, Kaiser Permanente, to cover a treatment called Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). He ultimately prevailed, and his sons began getting the ABA treatment. Kaiser changed its policy and now routinely covers ABA.

This week a court ruled that Providence, which had also denied ABA insurance claims, was violating state and federal law by denying such treatment. We’ll talk with Terdal about how his sons have responded to the treatment and what he sees as the broader implications of this week’s ruling. And we’ll also find about about the families of autistic children who he has helped shepherd through the complicated world of health insurance appeals.